Qualification criteria

1. An eligible candidate for the Doctoral School in History must hold a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in the Humanities or Social Sciences.
An eligible candidate must present a written consent of the potential supervisor from among the persons included in the list of supervisors on the UKEN Doctoral School website or another UKEN employee holding a professorial or postdoctoral degree.  

2. Possible subject areas for a PhD project include:

• Polish literature
• English-language literature
• Russian-language literature
• Spanish-language literature
• French-language literature
• German-language literature
• Italian-language literaturę
• comparative literature studies
• literature in interdisciplinary and contextual approaches
• literary theory
• didactics of literature 
• anthropology of literature
• literary translation
• theatre

3. The recruitment procedure competitive. Points are assigned for each stage of the evaluation process:

a) A research proposal (0-15 pts.), which is proposed by the candidate and which may in the future be the subject of their doctoral thesis The project should be written in Polish or English, according to the model project description for the discipline of literary studies (max. volume of 11 000 characters with spaces, not including the bibliography). It should concern Polish or foreign literature (English, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian). 

The project is assessed by two reviewers appointed by the Chair of the Recruitment Committee from among academics authorised to promote PhDs representing the academic discipline in which the research project is offered, or from another discipline if that person has academic experience in the field to which the project relates. The final assessment of the project is the average of the points awarded by each reviewer in the following categories: 

• formulation of the research problem: 0-4 points 
• knowledge of the current state of research: 0-2 points 
• theoretical background, proposed methodology: 0-2 points 
• Novelty and cognitive value: 0-3 points 
• Degree of feasibility of the research project (including effective scientific cooperation with the future supervisor): 0-4 points

b) An interview (0-20 pts.), the aim of which is to verify the candidate’s competence and research interests in relation to the proposed project as well as their general knowledge in the selected discipline. The interview may be conducted in Polish or English. The final evaluation of the interview is the average of points awarded by each member of the Selection Committee in the following categories:

• oral presentation of the research project (without a multimedia presentation) (0-4 pts.)
• justification of the project: its premises, objectives, and proposed methodology (0-4 pts.)
• awareness of the anticipated cognitive effects as well as the project’s social and ethical dimension (0-4 pts.)
• taking part in an academic discussion (0-4 pts.)
• general knowledge in the discipline (0-4 pts.)

c) Evaluation of scholarly or other activity in the last 5 years (0-7 pts.):

• academic publications (0-3 pt.)
• activity in a research club (0-1 pt.)
• participation with a paper in a scientific conference of an international or national range (0-1 pt.)
• national or international internships or scholarships of min. 7 days (0-1 pt.)
• awards or scientific honours, significant translation achievements, significant activity in promoting literature, art or science (0-1 pt.)

If the Selection Committee considers at least one of the above achievements to be outstanding, it is entitled to award the maximum score (7 points).

Relevant certificates / confirmations must be submitted. For publications, printouts are required. Original certificates and publications must be presented upon request of the Selection Committee chairperson.